Jason Sudeikis Threatens 'Saturday Night Live' Exit

If Jason Sudeikis isn't given more substantial roles, he may be ready to put "Saturday Night Live" producer Lorne Michaels' back against the wall.

The nine-year cast member told The Los Angeles Times recently that if he continues feeling undervalued and underutilized, he's ready to join Kristen Wiig and Andy Samberg in taking his comedic chops elsewhere.

"Just [staying] for the juice of being in the public eye - of being Mitt Romney - is not enough," he said. If his bosses aren't careful, 2012 could mark the biggest exodus of marquee talents in many years.

If it takes off and becomes an "Anchorman"-echelon hit, his turn as a campaign manager in Will Ferrell's upcoming comedy "The Campaign" could provide Sudeikis a lesser degree of the leverage Wiig's Oscar-nominated "Bridesmaids" provided her. Prior to performing alongside Ferrell, Sudeikis made his big-screen in-roads with "Horrible Bosses," "Hall Pass" and "The Bounty Hunter." In 2013, he's joining Ed Helms and Jennifer Aniston in "We're The Millers."

"You start at 'SNL' when you're young and hungry, but I don't want my pro years to be my 'SNL' years," he said. "I'd like the opportunity to use creative muscles that . . . haven't been asked of me for the first nine years that I've worked [at 'SNL']. It could be some sort of title change. The least of the concerns is anything financial. I'm not buying a boat because of writing skits. It's more having a desire to give mroe to a place I really believe in."

Michaels would do well to keep him around at least another year or two. Nearly a decade is a lifetime on "SNL" and with Wiig and Samberg gone, the show could use at least a few familiar faces to ease in the next crop of comics.

The good news is, Sudeikis is in a position where "SNL" needs line up with his ambition. He wants something more substantially challenging, and the show will need somebody to step up as a marquee big-hitter to carry sketches without Wiig and Samberg's star power. There's seemingly no reason at all why he shouldn't be given more.

Besides....what if Romney wins?